Monopoly
by Rule12H8r
Summary: Ziva hates the game but Tony insist they play it and tries to make it a bit more fun for her.


"Tony why do you insist on acting like such a child?" Ziva jabbed.

"Well, my ninja, I am not acting like a child. Just having a little fun. Relax. Come on, this is all part of the American experience, Zi!" Tony persisted, placing the community chest cards on the right place on the board.

"Why did you even bring monopoly to work anyways?" The Israeli questioned.

"Same reason McBoring keeps Scrabble in the bottom drawer of his desk. For days like this when we can't go home even though there's no work to do here." He explained, as if it was the simplest thing.

She had to admit, he was not wrong. They had no case today and had finished all of their paperwork. Gibbs had gone out on a coffee run, with nothing better to do and both of them knew that Tim was probably playing some video game on his computer by now.

Ziva sighed, leaning back in her chair. Tony held his hand out with a few figurines in it, silently asking which piece she wanted to be.

"If you continue to insist on playing this game I will break that hand of yours." Ziva threatened. "Besides, it is boring. Why would I want to buy these places anyways? They do not affect me." At this, Tony's eyes lit up and Ziva could immediately see that she had sparked an idea in him. She inwardly groaned, but had to bite back a smirk because seeing him get giddy and happy about something was one of her favorite sites, even if it was at the cost of her having to play monopoly.

Tony pushed his chair out and quickly began searching through the cabinets for whatever it was he needed. Ziva shook her head in amusement, glancing around the break room. She should have known something was off when Tony made her come down here, but of course she went with it anyways, because it was Tony and why would she say no to him?

He returned back to the table with a wide grin before she could put to much thought into it. Holding his hands up to show her a pad of sticky notes and a pen.

"You said the game was boring because nothing on this board affects you, right?" Ziva nodded slightly, allowing for him to continue. He was, howeve, apparently done talking and he picked up the pen and scribbled out a man with an NCIS cap on his head and a coffee in one hand, pointing away with his free hand. The drawing was then labeled as Gibbs in Tony's usual chicken scrawl and stuck down on top of the 'Go to jail' square.

Ziva smirked at him, because she had to admit, it seemed like a fun idea. Tony slid the pad and pen over to her.

"Your turn." He grinned, gesturing to the pad and holding the pen up to her.

Ziva took the pen from him and wrote down 'Abby's Lab' and drew a little CafPow cup and Bert the Hippo underneath, sticking it down over one of the random squares.

She handed them back to him and so they went, passing the sticky notes and the pen back and forth, creating their own new game.

Tony's phone vibrated and he slipped it out of his pocket to read the text from McGee.

_Boss is back. Said we can go home._

Tony put the phone away into his pocket, ignoring it completely.

Ziva looked up, asking with her big brown eyes what it was.

"Senior asking if he found the watch he lost at my place when he came down for the holidays." Tony shrugged. Ziva seemed to accept this answer and handed the notepad back to him.

"The last square." Ziva pointed out, raisin an eyebow as if challenging him, saying 'You had better make it a good one'

Tony smirked. He drew a rectangle with a line down the middle. Ziva had no clue what it was supposed to represent until he labeled it 'Elevator' and stuck it over the most expensive square.

"Are you willing to play now?" Tony asked, dragging out his last words.

Ziva cocked her head to the side, as if considering whether or not she wanted to play, even though the way the edges of her lips were tugged up just the slightest, they both knew that she would.

"What do I get if I win?" She asked before agreeing, which she knew she would agree no matter what the prize. Ziva just wanted to make the game more intriguing.

Tony thought for a moment, finding an idea quickly. "I'll tell you a secret. And if I win?" He smirked.

"We can go out for pizza when we get out of here. My cost."

"I think you mean 'my treat', but okay. You have yourself a deal."

They went on playing the game, Ziva finally considering it to be maybe just a little less boring.

"Ha! You landed on MTAC, I own that one. 400 dollars please." Tony grinned, knowing he had just won the game.

"I only have 200 left." Ziva groaned.

"So you went bankrupt? As in you lost?" Tony prodded, wanting her to admit it.

"Come on. Where do you want to go for pizza?" Ziva asked, trying to skip over what she knew Tony was trying to get her to say.

"But the game isn't over yet. Unless you?," Tony allowed himself to trail off, waiting for Ziva to finish his sentence for him.

"Yes, Tony, yes. Okay, you win I lost." Ziva admitted, smiling a little herself when Tony's grin spread across his face. She could not help it. His brilliant smile was contagious and she was getting an infection.

Tony picked up the board, pouring their pieces into the box with the board itself and the rest of the pieces.

"Let's go to the place by your house." Tony suggested. Ziva did not respond, just lead the way out of the break room. The pair arrived to an empty bullpen upstairs.

"Why did no one tell us we could go?" Ziva wondered aloud.

Tony just shrugged, but his eyes gave away something else.

"What?" Ziva asked. "You know something and you're not telling me."

Tony did not really care anymore whether she found out or not. He kind of wanted to see her reaction anyways.

"Okay fine, you want to hear the secret I was going to tell you if you won?" Tony offered, getting a nod from Ziva.

"That text was from McGone, not my dad. Gibbs got back and said we could head home," He could see Ziva getting a little mad at him so he tried to smooth it over. "but I didn't want to tell you because you seemed like you were actually starting to have fun and forget about everything that happened when your dad was here last week. I'm sorry Zi." None of that was a lie. Ziva had been reserved and on edge all week and he only wanted to help.

She sighed, knowing she could not fully blame him for it.

"You're paying for drinks after we eat." She said, passing him and heading to the elevator. He caught up quickly and they went to their separate cars, Tony driving ahead, knowing that Ziva would get there first anyways.


End file.
